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CPM: External Tasks

So many possible external tasks exist in large projects.  These tasks often lack history or previous experience.  These tasks might depend upon unpredictable vendors or government agencies.  The range of possible external tasks spans all of technology and then some.  Each external brings risk and time requirements and costs.
  • Hire a new employee: where do we find one? How long will it take? Will the employee fulfill the need?
  • New equipment? Have we done prototypes?  Have we done
  • Federal Communications Commission License for the radio equipment
  • Coordination with the credit card provider; approval of bank loans
  • Print new forms; new printers
  • Advertising
  • Furniture
  • Housing for the new equipment? new employee?  electricity?
  • Training for users
  • And many more . . . .

Throughput: real-time processing

Records per day, records per hour; records per minute during peak times
Sometimes these considerations make obvious the need for more equipment or more employees
Sometimes a better algorithm is needed
The manager must re-cycle thru the steps; hopefully the project is still in the planning stages.
The manager must eliminate black holes, which can put new research projects before the current project.

Are we there yet?  see CPM Early Calculations
PCC 1982 - 2014